Alcademics.com

Monday in San Francisco, With Fabulous Prizes

The short version is: A rocking party on Jan 5th at Enrico's in SF with all your favorite bartenders on their nights off, with pretty great raffle prizes you're likely to win, and even better silent auction items.

The slightly longer version is: Tony Devencenzi scored a rare bartending job that came with health insurance. Unfortunately, he managed to get himself hit by a car before the insurance kicked in. OOPS! So in an effort to mock him for being so clumsy help him out, other bartenders in town are throwing a big fat party.

Full details are below, or search Facebook for "Celebration for Tony Devencenzi"

New Year's Eve Events

Since I was getting many press releases for New Year's Events, I started putting them together on one page- it's over on the right under "Hot Links," or you can just click here. I'm not trying to cover everything, but taking the lazy approach and putting up the listings for events sent to me in email.

I'll add to the list as mail comes in. I"m focusing on San Francisco events, since it's close. To list your event, Contact me with the basics.

Pairing Battle, Round Two!

We interrupt Gift Week on Alcademics for a very special announcement. The second installment of the Fifth Floor's "Three on Five" pairing battle will take place next week! For a chance to win TWO tickets to this event, see below.

On Wednesday, December 17th at 7:30PM, a new pairing challenge will take place at the Fifth Floor Restaurant. Like gladiators with glassware, three beverage experts will compete to see who can pair wine or beer or cocktails better with food. Last month the Fifth Floor's Master Sommelier Emily Wines emerged victorious. This month she faces two new and ferocious competitors, and an entirely new food menu. Can she do it again?

At the Fifth Floor restaurant and lounge in San Francisco, Executive Chef Jennie Lorenzo will prepare a five-course dinner in the Chef's Room next Wednesday for this special event. The competitors will pair their liquids with each course, and diners will decide who did it best. From an economic standpoint, this means 15 drinks and a five-course meal for the regular price of $125.

The competitors:

• Reigning champion and Master Sommelier Emily Wines will be in charge of Wine pairings. 

• Mixologist Daniel Hyatt, the man who makes the beverage magic happen at The Alembic bar, will create the Cocktails. 

• Craig Wathen, owner of City Beer Store, will head the Beer pairings. Wathen has over 500 beers in his arsenal. Which will he bring to the table?

These people are all very fun professionals who really know their stuff- I've met them all before and think they're just dandy. From an audience standpoint, everyone I spoke to who attended this competition last month thought it was a great time with excellent food and service. I'm happy to promote the event.

Tickets for all this booze and the five-course dinner are just $125. You can reserve your space for the event by calling the Fifth Floor reservation line at (415) 348-1555. The event is called "Three on Five" so make sure to reserve for that.

*A chance to win tickets from Alcademics*

Sign up for the Alcademics A-Plus email list and you'll be entered to win the contest. Want to increase your odds? Email this post (or a link to it) to your friends and cc: alcademics@gmail.com on the email. For each friend who signs up to the A-Plus email list, you'll be given an extra chance to win. (And if one of your friends wins, it will only be polite for him or her to bring you as their guest, thus doubling your odds again.) 

The Upsides of Prohibition

You may have heard already, but tomorrow is Repeal Day, the 75th anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition in the United States.

I don't know about you, but I've read so many stories about Repeal Day, received so many emails, read way too many special Repeal Day cocktail recipes (many of them made with ingredients invented long after Repeal), and been invited to so many Repeal Day parties that I'm totally over Repeal Day and it hasn't even happened yet. Repeal Day is the new Obamatini.

So perhaps on this Repeal Eve it's a good time to reflect on the upside. What about all the good things caused by Prohibition?

- Prohibition popularized Canadian Whisky that came over the border into the States, and it is still very popular especially in the Midwest. You may not necessarily believe this is a good thing, but come on, Canada needs to be famous for something.

- It also popularized tequila in the United States. Mmm, tequila.

- It set the stage for the tiki movement. Rum fell out of popularity in America long before Prohibition. But during those long years, tourists flocked to rum-producing countries like Cuba to enjoy Daiquiris and other rum drinks. After Repeal, a lot of rum sat around in barrels with nobody drinking it. After WWII, Donn the Beachcomber and Trader Vic used this cheap supply of inexpensive aged rum to create some of the best cocktails the world has ever known.

-It pushed American cocktails and American bartenders abroad to find employment. Yes, this sucked for America, but was great for the rest of the world as bartenders relocated in Europe and South America vastly improved the quality of drinking throughout the world.

-It ended the great sausage party. Speakeasies were integrated with both men and women, allowing the female gender to join the party for the first time. Bars without women are depressing and scary in one way or another.

-It created cocktail hour and cocktail parties and the demand for barware and all the other terms and practices and amenities for drinking at home and entertaining at home with cocktails. As people had to keep drinking on the DL during Prohibition, they turned to entertaining behind closed doors. I, for one, love a good house party, and enjoy the occasional happy hour cocktail.

So raise a glass to all the positive lasting effects of Prohibition! Tomorrow, go out and celebrate in your favorite bar or tavern (that allows women to enter). Tonight, enjoy a little rum or tequila or Canadian whisky cocktail at home.

Chinaco for Dinner

Last week I attended a dinner at Tres Agaves in San Francisco with Gabriel and Guillermo Gonzalez of Chinaco Tequila. Tres Agaves is hosting monthly distillers' dinners with a different tequila brand each time.

Chinaco is a special tequila brand for a couple reasons. First, it is the only distillery located in Tamaulipas. Until the 1970's, all agave for tequila had to come from the state of Jalisco. Then the area was expanded to allow for more agave, and currently includes Jalisco and areas of four bordering states, plus part of Tamaulipas apart from the rest.

The other reason it's special is because it is cited as the first premium tequila on the US market. In the early 1980's Robert Denton began importing Chinaco and selling it as a high-end product as opposed to the rough spirit it was known as historically. (Some good historical information can be found here and here.)

The distillery closed in the late 1980's and reopened in the early 1990's by the founder's four sons, including Gabriel and Guillermo who were at the dinner. Interestingly, in the past two years the agave for the tequila has been sourced from Atotonilco in the highlands region (Don Julio, Siete Leguas) instead of from Tamaulipas. I'd like to learn more about this- highland agave is much prized but it seems odd to truck in a bunch of it to another agave growing region.

The barrels for Chinaco are also unusual in that they're first used for bourbon, then they're used for scotch whisky before they're shipped to Mexico for use in tequila. Thus they're likely pretty inert, imparting less wood (caramel, vanilla, butterscotch) notes to the tequila than the average barrels.

All in all, an interesting dinner with an educational aspect- and not bad in price, either. $75 includes many margaritas, a tasting of the night's range of tequilas, a three-course dinner, and tax and tip. Dinners are on the third Thursday of the month. The schedule for next month should be on the website soon.

Update: Here is the upcoming schedule:

December: Don Julio
January: Fortaleza
February: Corazon
March Arette
April: 7 Leguas
May: Corralejo

Saturday Events in San Francisco

Two events in the Bay Area this Saturday November 22 worth checking out:

Elixir's 5/150 Party:

The celebrations kick off November 22^nd at noon with a daytime party to celebrate the 5^th anniversary of Mr. Ehrmann’s proprietorship, featuring a Celebrity Chef Barbeque with Mission District culinary dignitaries Justin Deering (Conduit) and Scott Youkilis (Maverick).

Wristbands to enjoy the feast will sell for $10 and the funds raised from the BBQ will go to a new Distressed Bartender Fund to be established with the local chapter of the United States Bartenders Guild (USBG), for Guild members who cannot work because of accidents or injuries and lack of insurance.

Other activities for the day include a sidewalk sale for local Mission charities, a 1pm toast to the 150^th anniversary (with the Clampers!), a “Blue Blazer” cocktail demonstration (at 2PM), games, raffles, giveaways and more.

Hangar One/St. George Spirits' Holiday Party and Open House:

After months of hard work in our holiday workshop, we have found the solution for this year's holiday shopping gloom: a Holiday Open House! Seriously, shopping while eating and drinking is a lot more fun than waiting outside in the cold for a department store to open.

Like always, the stills will be running most of the day, allowing you a rare opportunity to see the process up close with a live distillation. Entrance will include 3 lil' cocktails, our spirits (including the new Hangar One Spiced Pear Vodka release), and the iced vodka luges. Music and food will be supplied throughout the day to keep everyone upright.

To make the shopping even easier (and tastier), our friends, who just happen to run some of the best specialty food companies around, will be there to sample and sell their wares: Recchiuti Confections with truffles and chocolates; June Taylor Jams, with amazing jams, preserves, and syrups; Boccalone with salumi, cured meats, and all things pork; and La Cocina, with a variety of sweet treats made with organic ingredients.

All of our delicious spirits and holiday gift packs will be available for sampling and sale, naturally, including the St. George Absinthe Verte and the Hangar One Spiced Pear Vodka.

Finally, we are once again providing shuttle service between the West Oakland BART station and the Alameda Main street ferry building to and from the distillery. Yes, it's free --- just get on!

BART Shuttle service begins at 12:30pm and continues at 1:30pm, 2:30pm, 3:30pm with the last pick-up at 4:30pm. From the ferry at 1:45pm and 4:15pm.

Will-call tickets will be available in the distillery store starting today and by phone for $30. Call us at 510.864.0635 to reserve your spot. We sold out last time so don't wait!

Tasting tickets to try both the Absinthe Verte and De Profundis (20-year aged Pear Brandy) are $10.

Entry, if not sold out, will be $40 at the door.

Saturday, November 22nd, 2008 from 1pm to 6pm
St. George Spirits/Hangar One Distillery
Entry Fee is $30 in advance, $40 at the door.
This is a 21 and over event. Please bring your picture ID!

Wines' Wine Picks Win

In last week's battle to see what paired best with food- wine, beer, or cocktails, wine came out the winner. In particular, the wines chosen by Emily Wines, Master Sommelier at Fifth Floor Restaurant in San Francisco, beat out the beer and cocktails pairings by other local experts as voted on by the diners in attendance.

I was rooting for cocktails, but from all accounts it was a close race. Congratulations to Ms. Wines. My spies who attended spoke:

"It was excellent-  Friendly, well organized, great service."

"The food was divine, spirit selections from all three experts were spot on, and the company around the table perfect. Everyone seemed to have a wonderful time, I know I did. Wine took the evening, Emily's pairings were awesome. However, Dave (beer) and Jacques were right there with her, I think only a point or two ever separated them."

I also got word that the next "Three on Five" competition will take place Wednesday, December 17th. There will likely be different pairing experts competing this time- sake? scotch? champagne? We'll know closer to the event date.

Big Week Ahead

Golly, I have a lot to talk about but so very little time to talk. I've been to London and Mexico in the past two weeks, and have some information to share on those trips. This week in San Francisco we have Dale Degroff's book launch party, the Averna appreciation party, the Kubler absinthe competition (all today), I am taking the BarSmarts certification on Tuesday, meeting with a pisco producer Wednesday, checking out Gitane on Thursday, and Friday I have two stories due. It's a boozy, boozy life.

Hopefully there will be time to blog in between. But in the meantime, go read this Belgian Beer Primer on CHOW.com.

 

Beer vs. Wine vs. Cocktails: Live!

For a chance to win TWO tickets to this event, see below.

Thursday, November 13th at 7:30PM, a battle will rage in the sky, hundreds of feet above San Francisco. A battle for the ages. A battle to see what pairs better with food- beer, wine, or cocktails- and who is better at pairing- a brewer, a sommelier, or a mixologist. This is going to be good.

At the Fifth Floor restaurant and lounge in San Francisco, Executive Chef Jennie Lorenzo will prepare a five-course dinner in the Chef's Room next Thursday for this special event. The competitors will pair their liquids with each course, and diners will decide who did it best.

The competitors:

• Master Sommelier Emily Wines will be in charge of Wine pairings. 

• Mixologist, world traveler, and cocktail consultant Jacques Bezuidenhout will pair the Cocktails.

• Dave Mclean, owner of Magnolia Brewpub and The Alembic, will head the Beer pairings.

These people are all very fun professionals who really know their stuff- I've spent time with each of them. And come to think of it, I've never been in the room with two of them at the same time - will a fight break out, or will love conquer all?

Tickets for all this booze and the five-course dinner are just $125. You can reserve your space for the event by calling the Fifth Floor reservation line at (415) 348-1555. The event is called "Three on Five" so make sure to reserve for that.

*A chance to win tickets from Alcademics*

Sign up for the Alcademics A-Plus email list and you'll be entered to win the contest. Want to increase your odds? Email this post (or a link to it) to your friends and cc: alcademics@gmail.com on the email. For each friend who signs up to the A-Plus email list, you'll be given an extra chance to win. (And if one of your friends wins, it will only be polite for him or her to bring you as their guest, thus doubling your odds again.) 

Bartender reminder

Hey you bar-folk: The application deadline for this year's Grand Marnier and Navan Mixology Summit in Vail, Colorado is November 30th. You have to create four cocktail recipes to apply, so don't let it go to the last minute. Information is here.

Hopefully, this year I won't get lost in the snow.

SF Event: Beattie Book Launch

If you live in SF and are planning on buying Scott Beattie's book, the time and place to do it is November 3 at Cantina. Hopefully the drinks served will be ones from the book, as Beattie cranks out some seriously delicious cocktails.

Artisanal Cocktails: Drinks Inspired by the Seasons from the Bar at Cyrus
by Scott Beattie
$40 admission, includes cocktails and an autographed copy of the book
Monday, November 3rd, 6 - 10pm
Cantina
580 Sutter Street

for more information, please visit:

http://scottbeattiecocktails.com/

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/10/03/WI6S1385C0.DTL

Whisky Wonderland

Finally I'm getting around to a wrap-up of WhiskyFest in San Francisco.

The event itself was well-run, not too crowded, and with plenty of food out to keep people relatively sane (or it seemed like it anyway, I smartly ate a huge burrito just before coming so that I wouldn't need to stop drinking to eat). As I did last year, this year I stayed on the floor the whole time, missing all of the talks, and instead talking to people I know and distillers and brand reps at the booths.

In the last half hour though, people got a little wild. I've heard from multiple people that the New York event is like this, a little less professional, with some yahoos screaming for the oldest expression on the table instead of doing a proper tasting through the line. It wasn't so bad here, just a bit intensely silly at the last minute. Overall, a wonderful event.

So, on to my favorite selections of the night. These are not the best in the room, of course, but the ones I found interesting.

• Bruichladdich Infinity- the only Bruichladdich I tried (it's a crowded table most of the night), was just plain damn delicious.
• Glenmorangie Signet- chocolate whisky? Yes.
• Dewar's Signature- too expensive to be so drinkable. I have a bottle at home and I had a dram here to conserve it.
• Yamazaki 18- Same here, except I don't have a bottle at home. I know what it tastes like and I drank it because I could.
• Old Pulteney 17- I like this expression better than the 21. I could drink the heck out of this.
• A. D. Rattray (independent bottler)'s Glencadam 1990. Cask strength yet light and zesty.

In the last 10 minutes, I finally ran into Eden Algie, the Macallan brand ambassador who was working that table as well as the charity table. There, they were selling tastes of single-bottle (not single-malt or single-barrel, but single-bottle) creations by current and past Master Distillers from the brand. We did a too-fast tasting of the four in the final minutes, pouring the last dram just after the event ended. Tasting notes weren't important, as nobody else is going to get to taste or buy that whisky ever. But umm, there was some great stuff.

See you there next year.

SF Whiskyfest events

Can now be found here. A lot more have been added since I last posted.

Whisky week in SF

The folks at Malt Advocate's WhiskyFest sent me a list of some of the events happening in San Francisco leading up to the big party on October 10th. These events should be considered tentative at this point, but I think it's safe to say if you're a whisky freak, you should just clear your calendar for the entire week.

And I'll take this time to remind you that you can win tickets to WhiskyFest San Francisco by signing up for Alcademics A-Plus.

The list of all the events is below.

As old as the trees

Last night I went to the Redwood Room 75th anniversary party. That bar has been around longer than John McCain, that's how old it is! The room, and the adjacent Asia de Cuba restaurant, was packed with a great-looking crowd for San Francisco. Nicely done.

This month they'll give back to the trees they cut down to make the bar 75 years ago, donating a buck from every Marmalade Old Fashioned sold to Friends of the Urban Forest.

If you squint really hard, you can even make out Lance Winters.

Tiki to me

What better way to go tiki bar hopping than with 100 of your closest friends? Tiki Central's Tiki Crawl 8 hits nine Bay Area bars over four days. Surprisingly, there are still tickets left on the tiki bus that will shuttle you to several locations safely on Thursday or Saturday October 9 or 11. I just bought some. Who's coming?

Read more about it here.

You too, can be a winner- WhiskyFest tickets!

Good news! The groovy folks at Malt Advocate's WhiskyFest have allowed me to give away two tickets to the San Francisco event, taking place October 10, 2008 at the San Francisco Marriott. That's a $220 value!

For a chance to win, register for my email list Alcademics A-Plus. One random subscriber will win entry for two to the event.

WhiskyFest is an annual event in its second year in SF but 11 years running in New York. Whisky lovers get a chance to sample hundreds of whiskies (though one doesn't usually make it to all of them), eat a terrific buffet to keep you sane and safe, and listen to educational seminars on topics like Japanese whisky, whisky barrel-aged beer, and how to blend whisky. It's a wonderful event that I'm happy to promote.

The contest winner will be announced October 1.

Alcademics A-Plus in a new email list for contests, giveaways, and other promotions. It's not a daily blog update (that link is here) so there won't be too much email. I won't sell your information, and you can leave the list at any time- no big whoop.

Sign up here!